University of Southern California USC Logo

USC News logo

In Memoriam, Armond Fields, 77

September 5, 2008 11:29 AM

Armond Fields, an expert on vaudevillian theatre, a biographer and a longtime friend of the USC Libraries, died at his home in Culver City on Aug. 17. He was 77.

A prolific author, the Chicago-born Fields researched and wrote many books on the American theatre, including From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theatre (1993), a biography of his great-uncle and vaudeville star.

Following the success of Bowery, Fields began his long relationship with the USC Libraries, where he researched the histories of such famous performers as Lillian Russell, James Corbett, Eddie Foy and Sophie Tucker.

“Armond worked on many of his books in our reading rooms, using most especially the rare hard copies of the New York Clipper newspapers, and his enthusiasm and productivity were inspiring to all of us,” said USC archivist Claude Zachary. “He was also a good friend, especially with John Ahouse and myself. We had many lunches and conversations over the 15 or so years that he was a regular visitor to our library.”

In addition to his literary achievements, Fields is also renowned for his paintings and silkscreen prints depicting urban and rural scenes.

Fields, a benefactor to several museums and libraries, donated his archive of rare memorabilia chronicling the history of the American stage to the USC Libraries’ Special Collections in 2002.

Known as the Armond Fields American Theatre Collection, the archive consists of more than 2,000 items - ranging from audio and video recordings to photographs and original manuscripts - that span the vaudeville period and the advent of the modern Broadway musical.

Fields is survived by his wife of 39 years, Sara; five children; and six grandchildren.

Newsmakers

Robotic Research

Two USC Viterbi School of Engineering faculty - Laurent Itti of the computer science department and Shrikanth Narayanan of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering - have won 2008 Okawa Foundation grants to support their research in human-machine speech processing and neuroscience-inspired robotic vision systems, respectively.

An associate professor of computer science, psychology and neuroscience, Itti will use his research grant to support a project titled “Towards Neuroscience-Enabled Machines: Taking Computational Neuroscience From the Laboratory to the Real World.” The research involves developing algorithms for a new visual system that will allow an autonomous robot to navigate in an unconstrained outdoor environment.

Narayanan, professor of electrical engineering, computer science, linguistics and psychology and the Andrew J. Viterbi Professor of Engineering, will use his research award to fund “Emotionally Intelligent Human-Machine Communication for Virtual Humans and Robots.”

The research will probe current understanding and modeling of verbal and nonverbal human behavior to develop emotionally intelligent robot and computer systems.

The Okawa Foundation was established in Japan in 1986 to provide funding for and give recognition to new studies in the fields of information technology and telecommunications. Each year, the foundation awards $10,000 grants to individual researchers whose work shows promise of advancing the field.

The awards will be formally presented at a ceremony to be held Oct. 8 in San Francisco.

Flashy Field Work

Four USC Viterbi School of Engineering professors in computer science and electrical engineering have won 2008 IBM Faculty Awards.

The recipients are Barry Boehm and Leana Golubchik of the computer science department, and Murali Annavaram and Shrikanth Narayanan of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering.

The IBM Faculty Awards are a competitive worldwide program intended to foster collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research and development. They also serve to promote courseware and curriculum innovation to stimulate growth in disciplines that are strategic to IBM.

Winners are selected for their outstanding reputation and unusual promise for contributions in their field. Award candidates are nominated by an IBM employee with common interests who will serve as a liaison for the collaboration.

Social Graces

USC graduate students Adria E. Navarro and Dahlia Fuentes have been selected to receive Hartford Pre-Dissertation Awards in geriatric social work by the Gerontological Society of America.

The award, presented annually to 20 doctoral students from universities across the country, acknowledges high-level research that introduces new ways for social workers to meet the changing needs of an aging population.

Navarro, a second-year doctoral student at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, has more than 20 years experience as a clinical social worker in health and community-based services. Her research focuses on counseling for abused older adults and on the transition from hospital to home care.

Fuentes, a Ph.D. candidate at the USC School of Social Work, studies unmet needs for services of older adults with mental illness. She expressed excitement at the opportunity “to interact with and learn from leading scholars in the field of aging.”

TAGS: